


Three's A Crowd

by trust_me_iknow



Category: Life (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 16:03:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trust_me_iknow/pseuds/trust_me_iknow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But four is a really weird hallucination."  This is set in the time between what we see of Charlie's hallucination and him waking up on the couch in S02E03 'The Business of Miracles.'  As always, I don't have a beta because I seem to be able to only write crappy one-shots, and I wouldn't feel right wasting someone's time and talent on that, so if you see a mistake let me know and I'll fix it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three's A Crowd

Charlie stared at his wife, his wife, and his wife. 

_Three of them. Three._

_Three._

_Three._

_Three’s a strange word. Close to tree, but...three._

“Charlie,” his wives said in unison “What are you thinking about?”

“You. Always you, Jenn. Jennifers. Did I ever tell you about the day the divorce papers were delivered?”

Three heads shook, blonde hair glinting in the orange light.

“I was in solitary. I had just gotten out of the infirmary. It’s a hard thing, being a cop in prison.”

The center Jennifer stood and walked towards him, her peach dress settling neatly around her thighs, a half smile on her face. She sat next to him and her scent washed over him like half-remembered dreams.

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I’m sorry that I abandoned you. I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you or believe in you. I’m so sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

Charlie laughed soundlessly and leaned in close, whispering the words in her ear. “I can think of a few ways, to be honest. How do you feel about mango? I could get some and we could go upstairs and-”

“Do you think this is entirely healthy, Crews?”

His head jerked up at the sound as his wives simultaneously made the same face, caught somewhere between a pout and a frown.

“Reese. You’re...well.”

Charlie was gobsmacked. There were no words. For some reason, the fact that his partner was in his living room wearing nothing but a matching maroon bra and panty set, six inch heels making her tower over his seated body, struck him as somewhat odder than his wife in triplicate. His eyes widened as he took her in from head to toe. He could make out the shape of her areolae through the sheer lace of the bra and the panties left nothing to the imagination. Her toes were painted a crimson so deep it seemed almost black at first. The combination of the ensemble against her smooth, tanned skin made his mouth water.

He raised his eyes to her face, only to be met with a disapproving frown.

“I asked you a question. Do you think this is healthy, Crews? This obsession?” She knelt on the floor, placing her hand on his knee for balance. “When are you going to let this go?”

“I can’t let this go,” he protested. “If I let her go then I have to let it all go and I can’t, I can’t let them get away with what they did to me, to my friends.” He sounded plaintive and childlike to his own ears.

Dani sighed, her face pinched in annoyance, full lips thinning into a nearly straight line. “I don’t know about all of that, Crews, but I do know that clinging to the faint chance that you might somehow win back your ex-wife’s affection isn’t going to erase those years you spent in a cage.”

His wives each made a ‘tsk’ noise, one right after the other. It sounded like a faint knock. His head turned toward the door.

“Who’s there?”

His wives smiled prettily at him and he smiled back, leaning in towards the one sitting next to him.

“Charlie! Focus!” Her voice was sharp as she grabbed his chin in her hand and turned his face towards hers. Her other hand slid further up his thigh. He rolled his eyes down to look at it, at each individual finger, nails unvarnished contrary to her toes.

“Hey, look at me.”

Her voice was softer than he’d ever heard it and that alone made him look her in the eyes. He tried to avoid looking into her eyes. When he did, he often found himself distracted by them. They were huge and doe-like, the color of strong tea, and she was so fierce, so strong, but sometimes, if he paid enough attention, he could see her stories in them, flickering briefly only to be quickly replaced by her hard cop eyes when she saw him staring.  
 _Nothing to see here, folks. Move along._  
“Charlie, please. It’s time.”  
He took a deep breath, inhaling her scent. It was like pepper and bright citrus, spicy, but clean, and very different from his wife’s powdery sweetness. He reached out and trailed a fingertip up her arm, watching her flesh pebble in its wake as he spoke.

“How?” He whispered. “How do I let go of her? We didn’t have enough time. If we had just had more time, I could have...” Charlie trailed off, resting his hand at the juncture between her neck and shoulder.

“Could have what, Charlie?” Without him noticing, Dani had moved closer, her hand now very near his raging erection.

_Hmm, now when did that happen? I’m missing a lot of things tonight. Some detective you are, Crews._

“I seem to have lost the thread of my remarks,” he replied.

Her breath huffed across his face, a half smile on her lips.

“Reese. Dani, why are you here?” His gaze fell to her mouth as he fought the urge to do something that they would both regret.

“That’s for you to answer, Charlie. You brought me here.”

His eyes widened as her head moved ever closer. “You’re not real, are you?”

“I’m as real as they are,” she replied quietly, indicating the rapt audience comprised solely of his three wives. 

_Wife. But three._

Dani was so close at this point that he could feel the heat coming off of her skin, could barely keep her face in focus. He didn’t know at what point he’d started to lean in towards her, but he had, pulled forward by the gravity she seemed to have. He felt constantly in her orbit.

“You just need to let go.” The last was said against his lips, their mouths barely touching. It was the most erotic thing he’d ever felt and he was 87% sure it wasn’t real. He felt the barest tip of her tongue against the seam of his lips and he parted them, wanting nothing more in that moment than to taste her.

Then they were kissing in earnest, their tongues sliding against each other in a perfect rhythm, as if they had always known the way the other needed to be kissed. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, scraping her teeth along it as he pulled his face away.

“Wha-” Her words were cut off as he bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her up and pulling her onto his lap, legs on either side of his thighs. Dani tilted her head back and laughed, the length of her dark hair trailing down her back. Charlie had never seen her like this, so open and free with her laughter. It was one of, if not the, most arousing thing he had ever seen. His right thumb dipped into her navel. 

She straightened up, settling firmly on his lap. He could feel the heat and wetness of her through the front of his slacks. She smiled down at him and leaned in slowly, never letting her gaze drop from his eyes. Only at the last second did she close her eyes, just as the tip of her tongue touched the corner of his upper lip. The feeling was so electric, he nearly came in his pants.

His hips jerked, his cock grinding against her lace clad cunt and he could feel the vibrations of her laughter as she deepened their kiss. Again he pulled his mouth away and again she began to protest, but whatever she was going to say ended in a gasp as he took her nipple into his mouth, pulling hard and deep, until his teeth pressed into her flesh. Charlie felt her hands in her hair, tugging on its short length. He pulled his mouth off with a pop and admired the way the lace changed changed color, darkening, ripening, like fruit.

Dani tugged sharply on his hair, tilting his head back as she rolled her hips against his cock. “Do you see what I’m saying, Charlie? About letting go? About moving on? What I’m really trying to get at is that, when you do decide to let the past be the past, I’ll be here, waiting. Do you understand?” He responded to her question with a strong upward thrust.

_Fuck fuck fuck_

“Charlie, please,” she gasped “I need to know that you understand.”

“Yes, I understand,” he breathed as he tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her face closer.

“Good. That’s all I needed.” She pressed a kiss to his lips, mouth warm and honey sweet and then...nothing.

_Nothing._

_There’s nothing._

Charlie’s eyes flew open and as he looked around frantically. He started to get up, but his head protested and his stomach roiled. He was still sitting on the couch, still achingly hard, but his wife wasn’t here, in singular or multiples, and there was definitely no Detective Dani Reese writhing on his lap.

His head fell back and he closed his eyes. 

Took a deep breath.

Then another.

He couldn’t really tell if it was a hallucination or a dream, or some combination of the two, and right now he was in no state to examine what his subconscious was trying to tell him. All he could do was fall sideways onto the couch, curl up in a ball, and pray to God that Dani didn’t wear that maroon blazer she favored any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: Dani DID wear that maroon blazer in the next episode.


End file.
